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Re: The Who`s influence



<<the loud, chordal-based guitar sound which PT more or less invented
singlehandedly.>>
<<I am aware of course of those who inluenced PT, eg. Berry, Davies,
Richards, Eddie Cochrane, and others,>>

Loud, I'll grant you.  It is well documented that two of the most famous
products in Rock-n-Roll history (the Marshall and HiWatt amplifiers) were
designed for Mr. Townshend.  However, his "chordal-based guitar sound"
 descends directly from the Delta blues.  Muddy Waters, Son House, Robert
Johnson and others used to play by themselves at dances.  Can you imagine a
roomful of people dancing on wooden floors, and one man playing acoustic
guitar trying to be heard?  Sometimes there would be other musicians-bass,
harmonica, washboard, etc.-but there were NO amplifiers.  Guitar players
learned to play loud, and since they were playing solo, they learned to play
chords, melodies, bass lines, all at the same time.  Muddy Waters left the
Delta in the late 40's and moved to Chicago.  He found that Chicagoans were
much louder in their bars than Mississipians, so he bought an electric guitar
and an amplifier (that distorted when he turned it up).  This was the birth
of Chicago blues-and the seeds of Rock-n-Roll were planted.

BTW, this is not just IMHO-Mr. Townshend himself told me of his love for the
Delta blues.  Listen to the acoustic guitar solo that segues Overture/It's A
Boy on TOMMY.  This is a perfect example of Delta-style guitar playing.
  Imagine Young Man Blues on acoustic instead of electric-more Delta style.
 Of course, he took it in many different directions away from strict blues.  

There has been much discussion about who influenced who, who did what first.
 But I must say that nearly all of the bands you mention- the Who, Zeppelin,
Yardbirds, Cream, the Stones, etc.-were heavily influenced by the Delta
blues.  Each band pursued their influences in a different way, sometimes
interacting and imitating each other, sometimes rebelling against each other.
 I know that this is a Who list, but I think that there were several other
bands to come out of that era that were just as important and
influential-THAT is JMHO.

Scott Totten